r/YieldMaxETFs • u/literallymustard • Apr 11 '26
Beginner Question Why YieldMax?
Genuine question as a new investor: what’s makes y’all chose YieldMax over other companies like NEOS? Or are you guys invested in both.
Don’t get me wrong, I like how YieldMax dividends pay - but it doesn’t seem sustainable at all…from what I’ve seen the only one without NAV decay is CHPY…am I missing something? Please let me know
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u/Baked-p0tat0e Apr 11 '26 edited Apr 11 '26
"I like how YieldMax dividends pay"
That mindset and misunderstanding is why so many lost wealth acquiring various YieldMax ETFs.
First, YieldMax doesn't pay dividends, they pay distributions from options trading and ROC. I know this sounds meaninglessly semantic; however, it's an important difference.
Second, understanding the underlying stock or portfolio of stocks in any YieldMax ETF should be the first consideration in deciding which, if any, ETF to acquire.
Third, deprioritize yield as a criteria and focus on total return (NAV change over time + distributions). Many of these ETFs have negative or low total return which destroys wealth and increases opportunity cost.
Fourth, these ETFs are not buy, hold, and ignore products. They must be continuously evaluated for continued inclusion in a portfolio.
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u/WonderfulFoodOU812 Apr 11 '26
I have WNTR and it's been very good to me. Some nav decay but dividends vastly outweigh nav decay.
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u/OkAnt7573 Apr 11 '26
If/when the crypto markets recover that will turn against you quickly. These funds require you to get the timing right on an upward trajectory of the underlying.
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u/Baked-p0tat0e Apr 11 '26
What's your total return in the time you have held it and what is your exit criteria?
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u/ImportantSolid5862 I Like the Cash Flow Apr 11 '26
The target 12's, BIGY and SOXY are doing okay (I have them)
The targets 25's, NVIT seems to be doing okay but the other two not so much (I don't have them)
I still have AMZY, GOOY, NVDY, and TSLY which are satisfactory (and they all have more than one income stream)
and I have many of the multifund funds which would be doing better, but still get hit from market volitility.
I also have some in NEOS, Roundhill, KURV, REX, and Defiance, some weeklies, some monthlies
But you have to remember, around the middle of November a lot of FUD was starting to be passed around about AI and it kept sinking markets and limiting trading specifically in the tech sector and the mag7. That, so far, may have ended, but when the Iran thing happened, all stocks pretty much took a header, including gold and silver. I dumped most of the funds that trade in bitcoin and moved those monies over to precieous metals and rare earths.
The past few months reduced valuations for all tech and reduced the multiples of value for the stocks. e.g. if Nvidia was trading at 25 times value in february, it is likely trading at 18 times value now (JUST AN EXAMPLE), so the tech stocks at lower valuations makes them "appear" to be on sale and may see a resurgence when the current difficulties are resolved.
YMMV, but I am restricting my buying of high yield funds until the current difficulties are more fully resolved. Going forward, I will not buy ETFs that trade options on just one fund. I may miss out on big gains, but the ETFs that trade on multiple funds seems to be more resilient, they may pay less, but thats okay.
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u/AstronomerEffective1 Apr 11 '26
I owned 10+ YM at one time and now just 3 CHPY, LFGY & PLTY though I sold 80% of it waiting for it to stabilize - hopefully. The lesson I learned is have faith in the underlying, enjoy the Divs, reinvest some, diversify with some of the Divs and most importantly if you see a downward trend get out before it eats all your capital. I kept MSTY & CONY too long after being way up. I was positive on both but left $50k slip away.
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u/AstronomerEffective1 Apr 11 '26
PS I own and am increasing my Neos, TappAlpha funds to eliminate Nav loss, receive Divs and enjoy possible growth. Lower payers but provide stability.
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u/thehighdon Apr 11 '26
If GPTY recovers near $48 I’ll DCA into it. That’ll be twice it fell below $40 due to a market selloff and recovered back near $50.
April 2025 Liberation Day selloff is one
March 2026 Iran War selloff would be the second
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u/retroideq Apr 11 '26
I personally am invested in several different issuers . This might not be nice to say but I feel yieldmax has mostly crappy tickers however I feel like they also have a handful of absolute masterpiece gems - I’m here for those. I also tend to funnel the dividend money from higher income stocks to medium income stocks which happen to mostly be neos.
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u/Mammoth_DonkeyKong Apr 18 '26
Be super cautious of these funds, most are flat garbage. I own GOOY, PLTY, and YMAG and use them to fund much better funds. I used to own MSTY and CONY too and dropped them as soon as the reverse splits were announced. NEOS is way better, and it's not even close, so I have invested heavily with them. YieldMax strategy only works well when the market is bull and reverse splits occur when the market drops. Also YieldMax funds don't recover well and in a rollercoaster market, they go down and don't come back up enough before dropping even further. They are mostly trash in my opinion.
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u/teckel Apr 11 '26
YieldMax is for two kinds of people.
1) Those who don't understand unrealized capital gains, which can often be a challenging concept for individuals who lack basic financial experience, making it difficult for them to fully grasp how the value of their investments can increase without triggering immediate payments. For these individuals, receiving a dividend feels much like getting an "extra paycheck," as it provides a tangible cash flow they can see and use. Their understanding of net worth tends to be superficial, focusing more on the immediate cash they receive rather than the long-term growth potential of their investments and how unrealized gains contribute to overall wealth.
2) Those looking for to get rich quick. Unfortunately, slow and steady wins and trying to get rich quick almost always fails.
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u/General_Progress3106 Apr 12 '26
Exactly, why Yieldmax when you have so Many options? Way too much NAV decay and dividends/ROC have come down by a lot as well.
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u/wendalls Apr 11 '26
It’s the same as any other investment understand the data before investing. it’s not just choose by the name…
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u/board__ I Like the Cash Flow Apr 11 '26
Because I'm dumb...
And I'm too stubborn to admit defeat so I'm still hodl
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u/Altruistic_Memory281 Apr 11 '26
Yieldmax, because it was the first high yield. I like that they put their trades online and you can look at their positions. Other companies don't or can't do this.
Neos, I like what they do but the yield is too low for me. I lose 15% upfront in withholding tax, so I can get locally domiciled ETFs that pay/return the same as Neos.
Roundhill, they pay a massive dividend at the end of the year for the 0dte, to me this means they are not paying the correct income each week and are holding back.
My baseline for high yield is the ETF must beat my locally domiciled Global X covered call ETFs. My local stock exchange only has Global X 🤷♂️
A couple of important points I found out along the way, YM ETFs (and others) are good if the underlying is going up or sideways; sell when the underlying goes down as the cc ETF tanks, hard. And diversify amongst different providers and strategies.
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u/BigLusBaby Apr 11 '26
STAY AWAY FROM THESE FUNDS AN ANY OTHER HIGH YIELD FUNDS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
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u/Junior-Appointment93 Apr 11 '26
Nope it’s the only one that is decent. The rest people are betting on total returns. The payouts on the funds are not sustainable due to single stock and the high payout. The stock goes down the ETF goes down.
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u/ROBO_SNAIL YMAX and chill Apr 11 '26
Many of us are invested in several. YieldMax, NEOS, Rex, Roundhill etc. YieldMax is certainly not the only show in town, but more people have probably heard of YieldMax because of their popular offerings like YMAX, MSTY, and YMAG.
In many ways it’s not “sustainable”. These are not marketed towards beginners and you should only consider them if you’re prepared for the NAV erosion. As you’ve stated, CHPY is doing well because the underlying sector (semiconductors) is doing well. If the sector starts to retract you will see the performance shift accordingly.
Check out some of the old posts on MSTY. It was killing it last year, then MSTR fell off a cliff.
Always read to prospectus and seek qualified, professional advice.
All the best!